Hipster vs. Foodie: Which Is Worse?

Remember when you were a kid and you liked to fight with your friends about who would win in a fight between Voldemort and Darth Vader? No? That never happened? OK, bear with me. A recent kerfuffle over on our music blog over the concept of "hipster" got me thinking -- in a fight for what is more distasteful, which word/concept would win? Hipster or foodie?

There's obviously some crossover potential, the chance for a Frankenstein-like monster, the hipster-foodie. But, taken separately, I wondered which label people would find more repugnant.

I, for one, often refer to myself (jokingly) as an aging hipster, but I would never refer to myself as a foodie, although both of those descriptions could be described as accurate, depending on your definition of "aging." I may be in the minority, though.

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Most people I asked said that no actual hipster would ever call themselves a hipster (not ironic enough?), while there is a whole group of earnest foodies out there perfectly happy to be labeled as such. Also, people tend to think that while foodie is often used as a nonjudgmental definition, hipster is almost always used as a slur, albeit a fairly toothless one.

Despite these things, the people I asked overwhelmingly responded that foodie was worse. As my sister said, "I'd rather be called a hipster. Because recognition of oneself as a hipster automatically negates being a hipster." If you call her a foodie, though, she threatens "your swiftly arriving demise."